from “THE IMPROPER USE OF PLATES”

NIGHTMARE ABOUT ELEVATORS

a skull tattooed on my neck
409 foam on the steps on the carpet       you know
that Rice Krispies cereal explosive probiotic
material        /       it is conclusive in the walkway
a head has exploded                                        there is a mess all over the stairs
we are going to have to vacuum up                    /

my brain / I have to look for that
furry piece of the vacuum for seats
full of fur     to find quarters under a month long meanwhile
we all have blood on our fingers       everybody in the house

I call grandma to help and she picks up the phone
like rocks how  /  she holds pieces of brain my sock gets wet with then
freezes it so it doesn’t go bad.

in an unsafe drift there are sharp edges underneath wet rags.
animal food grease baby          fingerprints        the things we wiped down before dinner

Used with permission of Ghost City Press. © 2021 Angelo Maneage.